


Tell Me You Didn't! (Companion One Shot to Secrets, Lies, and Blessings)

by SassyAndClassy94



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Arguing, Brief Mention of Blood, F/M, Mist Haven, Princess Emma, Teen!Baelfire, Teen!Emma Swan, brief mention of marital intimacy, mild wound dressing, newly married!SwanFire, pregnant!emma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23566390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyAndClassy94/pseuds/SassyAndClassy94
Summary: "Tell me you didn't!" What starts as a mild argument turns into a deeper conversation between Bae and Emma
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Tell Me You Didn't! (Companion One Shot to Secrets, Lies, and Blessings)

“How did this even happen?” Emma asked as she rubbed some sort of infection-preventing ointment into Baelfire’s hand. Somehow he had managed to cut his palm on goodness knows what; her poor clumsy young husband, bless his little soul, was always getting himself into all kinds of mishaps.

“It uh,” he grinned nervously before he continued. “It just sort of, happened--”

“Yes obviously, but how?” she interrupted. Her patience was running thin these days, a combination caused by their child growing inside her womb - those darn hormones - and with her husband all of sudden - or, at least since their recent marriage three months ago - wanting to become a Mist Haven soldier - something poor Emma really didn’t approve of. Sure it was a very honorable aspiration, and his bravery fit the criteria and, being a good and proper wife she wanted to support him in his dreams and everything but, she wasn’t very sure of his actual intentions. When they fell in love he had been a simple sheep boy and she would have been more than happy for him to stay that way but now that they were married… 

The night he brought up the possibility at the swan pond - in deliberate defiance to Charming’s ‘not to be alone without a chaperone’ rule - he had said something about how being part of the Mist Haven army would make him ‘more worthy of her’. Oh how she wanted to slap him for even thinking that! She tried, with no avail apparently, to make him see and understand that he didn’t need to feel that way and that she’s a person, just like him only with a fancy royal title before her name which was really only a word. ‘I fell in love with the simple sheep boy,’ she had told him. ‘What makes you think I would think any differently now that we’re at the castle?’ However, much to Emma’s frustration her words fell on deaf ears and she wondered if Balefire really wanted this because he felt he needed to prove his worth to her parents - mainly her father who put no effort in hiding his disdain for him in the very beginning - and if that was the case (and it probably was because Baelfire had a habit of taking even the simplest things to heart)… it saddened her.  
After she looked up at him with an annoyed glare she repeated her question and began to wrap up his hand with an old rag; some blood began to seep through and she hoped that his wound didn’t actually need to be stitched up. 

“I don’t--”

Emma rolled her eyes and cut him off once again. “Please do not tell me that you picked up your sword by the sharp end!” 

Baelfire was quiet as he put his healthy hand behind his neck and grinned nervously - a dead giveaway that he did in fact pick his sword up by the sharp side.

Emma made an expression of disbelief. “Oh mercy, you did, didn’t you?!” 

Baelfire winced at the tone of her words - or was it from the way she was wrapping his hand? Her sudden mood seemed to be reflecting through her touch. “I’m sorry… I, I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“You see?” she finished wrapping his hand and tied off the rag but continued to hold on to his hand. “That is your problem, Bae! You don’t think!! Instead you act on, on your emotions and…” she let go of his injured hand and motioned with her own as she tried to think of the correct word or term - again, thank you, baby brain. “On whatever this was!” she felt tears start to flood her eyes and that made her even more mad. “You’re rash and you’re clumsy and you’re not - you’re not cut out for this.” That was probably mean but it needed to be said - well maybe she could have said it gentler but… yeah, she shouldn’t have said that, and now she felt guilty as she saw the look of surprise, and, oh no! Was it mixed with hurt? The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. She glanced at his bandaged hand and took it in hers again then looked up at him, her expression softer than it had been just a few moments ago. “I’m sorry,” she said, her green eyes moist with coming tears. “I didn’t mean what I said - well, I kinda did, but I didn’t mean for them to come out sounding so harsh.”

Baelfire sighed. He couldn’t necessarily deny what she said… he could be rash, and he was clumsy - he had displayed that on so many occasions… including during a few of their ‘nights of passion’, as Emma liked to call the moments where they would get intimate with one another. Poor Emma. If she had ever been annoyed or frustrated by his clumsiness, not once did she ever let it show; she was always encouraging and so patient with him. That was one (of many) reasons why he loved her. “It’s okay,” he said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “It was kind of a stupid thing to do…”

Emma raised her eyebrows. “Kind of a stupid thing to do?”

“Okay, it was a stupid thing to do and I’m sorry. I will try to use my head more next time.”

“Heavy emphasis on the word ‘try’,” she remarked. Her tone suddenly softened again and she brought his injured hand up to her lips and kissed it. “I just want you to be safe,” she added, her eyes round with concern. She wondered if she should say her next thought and decided she was going to say it. “You know, you don’t have to do all this for my father.”

“What?” Baelfire’s eyes were wide with shock and he started to stammer. “Who says - I - that’s not why--” he was stopped by Emma putting her index finger to his lips.

She shook her head. “We both know that’s why you want to be a Mist Haven soldier, isn’t it?” she paused and continued to look at him before going on. “To earn his respect? And to seek his approval?” Baelfire was silent and Emma knew that meant a ‘yes’ but she still attempted to gently prod a verbal answer out of him with her eyes.

He tried to avoid her gaze but Emma was having none of that! He forced himself to look at her and finally answered with another sigh. “Yes.” 

She knew it. When their secret was out and Baelfire was first brought to the castle he and Charming had started off on the wrong foot - with Charming making remarks and shooting looks of disdain every chance he got while Baelfire would return them with glares of rebellion. Since then though their relationship had improved; now instead of looks of contempt, Charming only teased him mildly in good humor. Emma inhaled and stroked his face. “You don’t have to prove yourself to him. He respects you now - in fact, whether he wanted to admit or not I think he always did.”

“Yeah, right…” he rolled his eyes at what she had said.

“No! It’s true! He did! Be it reluctant.” Baelfire made a face to say he didn’t believe her but Emma went on. “I’m serious, Bae! He really did! He only treated you the way he did because he was hurt by what I did - we were always so close and I would always tell him everything but, as you know, I kept us from him and that hurt him, alot I’ve been told, and instead of taking it out on me he took it out on you. Do you really think he and Mother would have let you marry me if they thought you were a bad choice? No! They wouldn’t have! He won’t admit it but, according to Mother, he admired you the moment you stood up and took responsibility for our baby.” she moved his hand down to her growing belly.

“Well, she - she is mine and, we’re in this together and, I couldn’t really deny--”

Emma shook her head. “He. Not ‘she’. Some men - alot actually, as sad as it is - would have denied it out of either irresponsibility or fear yet you never once had that thought and he admired you for that! And I heard you even went as far as to say that you started everything?”

He swallowed. She heard about that? Wow, there really were no secrets between this family. “Well I mean, I kinda did on some occasions.”

Emma waved his remark away. “I mean the first night! The first night was all me and you even tried to talk me down at first but I wanted it and when I want something I go after it, just like my father. And he knows how much I am like him so do you really think he believed you when you said you started everything? No! But he admired that you did that for me. For my honor.”

“Really?”

Emma nodded enthusiastically. “Really. He never hated you by any means, Bae. Ever. He was just hurt and had to get used to alot of change at once.” She was still holding his bandaged hand and held it closer. “Do you see now why this whole soldier business isn’t necessary? You have nothing to prove and you can go back to being the sheep boy I fell in love with…” she stood on her toes to meet his nose with hers.

“About that,” he began. “I don’t really want to go back to being a sheep boy.”

Emma’s heart sank at his answer. “And why not?”

He suddenly stepped back and turned around, putting his hand behind his neck again to nervously rub at the back of his head. “I don’t know, I feel like this is actually important--”

“Sheep are also important.” Emma interrupted, placing her hands on her hips, unamused

“Okay, maybe, but this feels like it makes a difference, you know? Like I can do something important with my life.”

Emma thought about what he said for a moment and okay, yeah she understood where he was coming from but, what about the hazards that came with this occupation? She stepped forward and placed her palm between his shoulder blades. “Okay,” she licked her lips and swallowed. “Okay, I understand that but,” she looked down at her growing bump. “What about him? Or the other children we have? What about me if something were to happen to you? I think, well, of course I want my children to know their father but…” she looked down to hide the tears that the mere thoughts were bringing and tried to blink them away. “I think that if I lost you I… I think I’d, I’d lose myself…” 

Crap! Now she just made him feel selfish. He hadn’t thought about that aspect. “Oh… oh, Emma.” he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah you didn’t think that far, did you?” she sniffed. “Typical.”

“I’m sorry; I feel bad,I didn’t really give any of that a thought--”

“Let me finish.” Now it was Emma’s turn to feel a little selfish. Of course he wanted to be something other than ‘Princess Emma’s husband’, or even worse, ‘the peasant boy who had to marry the princess because he impregnated her’... even though that wasn’t at all how things had gone, the outside saw it like that no matter how hard they tried to explain otherwise. She could understand why he wanted this so badly. “I understand why you want this and I honestly can’t blame you but, I guess I’m just scared of possibilities.” she looked down at his injured hand again. “That was just a stupid mishap but what if the next time something like that happens and it’s alot worse than this?”

Baelfire glanced at his hand before pulling it back to hide behind his back. “And I see your point… but, it's not like your father will be sending me off on any,” he paused to gesture with his hands. “Quest-like things for quite some time, and, as this shows,” he held up his bandaged hand as a case and point, “I’m not even close to being ready for that and--”

“But what about when you are and he does send you off on one? What about then?”

Baelfire drew her a little closer and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Then we’ll cross that road when we get to it.” he bent to kiss her and she of course kissed him back before he pulled away to finish his thought. “In the meantime, for the here and now,” he looked down at her belly and placed both his hands on it. “I’ll be right here with you and our new little princess.” he knelt down to kiss her belly and Emma rolled her eyes. “What?” he asked as he looked up at her, his round hazel eyes even wider with curiosity.

“You mean prince.” she scolded. “Our baby is a boy.”

“Yup, so you say,” he said as he left another kiss. “We know better, don’t we, Young Lady?” Suddenly his eyes lit up. “I think she just moved!”

“Yeah! He did just move. He tried to kick his papa in the face for calling him a girl. I’m sure I too would have kicked my father in the face if he ever called me a boy.” 

Baelfire chuckled as he stood back up. “Have it your way your way then, my lady.” he kissed her forehead. “If insisting it’s a boy makes you happy then it makes me happy too.”

Emma uttered a little huff of frustration. “I’m not insisting, Baelfire. I know it's a boy, and he keeps kicking you because he’s greatly offended by every time you refer to him as a girl.”

He grinned and kissed her again, this time on her lips. “Three more months and we finally get to see which one of us is right and settle this thing.” he suddenly realized the time and gave her another quick kiss. “I have to go! I love you and I’ll see you at supper! And you, behave for Mama.” he placed his hand on her belly and Emma grinned at both his interaction with their unborn child and his touch. Before he turned around to leave he put his hand behind her neck to bring her forehead to his. “We can still talk about the other thing tonight if you want to.”

“No, we’re good,” she answered. “I said I understood. We’re good! I promise. Now you should probably go before you get into more trouble.” With that he turned and headed out of their chamber doors.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope that quarantine is treating you okay and that you hopefully enjoyed this story!


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